Still Revealing My Heart
by Jules.btvsfan
Summary: Sequel to Revealing My Heart, and much Spuffy goodness for ya. It’s summer, and so many things start going wrong for Buffy. Solution? The Scooby Gang including Spike go out on vacation. Buffy realizes there's still some of her heart to be revealed.
1. This Love

Okay… due to much requesting from my lovely readers, I am writing this lovely sequel. Other than pleasing you guys (lol), this is also a chance for me to write all the things I didn't get to write in Revealing My Heart. Truthfully, it did not come out the way I had expected. I was planning to do more with the characters and the plot… but unfortunately time, school, and stupid V-day had to ruin it all. Grr. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

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Title: Still Revealing My Heart

Author: Julesters aka me :)

Rating: PG13

Summary: Sequel to Revealing My Heart, and much Spuffy goodness for ya. It's summer, and so many things start going wrong for Buffy. Luckily Spike is there to catch her fall, and she realizes there's still more of her heart to be revealed.

Setting: Takes place the summer after the sixth season. No, Willow did not try to destroy the world. Xander and Anya are happily married. And Tara is not dead. It's all happy and pleasant in my world :)

Disclaimer: Do I even have to write this? Of course I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer… and I have no affiliation with it whatsoever. Just a big fan who is incredibly happy that Joss Whedon was born into this world.

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**Chapter One  
This Love**

"I can't do it," Buffy said, wincing.

Spike wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Pet, you're the Slayer. You never lose the fight."

"But this is different!"

"Bollocks."

"No. No 'bollocks'. This is probably the hardest thing I've ever done."

Spike chuckled. She was so adorable when she was worried. The frustrated look on her face, the way her cheeks flushed the slightest pink, the uneasiness in her eyes. Every action of hers was absolutely lovable. He'd never seen someone so beautiful, let alone been in love with. _In love_, the words made him glow with happiness. They were in love. She was in love with him. She was his girl. How did this ever come to be? He had to be dreaming. This had to be one cruel dream that he would wake up and be heartbroken over.

"Okay, I'm going to do it," Buffy said, taking in a deep breath.

Spike gave her a tight hug. "I'm right there with you." He hesitated. "Actually it'd probably do better if I waited out here. Just in case there's flying body parts or exploding guts."

"I wish! Guts, I'm good with." Buffy turned around to face him. "I can work with guts and I can slay things. I can even decapitate. But this? No… Buffy is not good at quitting a job."

"It's about time you quit the Doublemeat. The meat smell? Not appealing."

Her mouth curved into a pout. She stared up at him with big eyes. "You smelled the smell?"

Spike quickly replied, "Um, no."

"You just said you did!"

"Well, it's very faint. Sometimes I can't even smell it."

"That is such a lie."

He pulled her close to him and kissed her on the forehead. "You smell amazing, Buffy. I couldn't live without your scent."

"Are you saying you like the meat smell?" she said incredulously. She saw the look Spike gave her and she added with a smile, "Okay, okay. I know I'm ruining the moment."

He wrapped her in his arms. "I love you, Buffy."

"It goes away after many bathings, you know."

"I did notice that, actually. Vampire senses pick up on almost any scent."

"Good to know," Buffy replied. Then a disgusted look came over her face. "And eww now that I think about it."

"But…" Spike continued. "Certain scents are stronger. Like the smell of you definitely floats my world. Whenever you're around, I drown in it and I can't pick up on anything else."

She beamed. "I love you, too."

"Knew you were gonna say it sometime." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Good luck."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "That's all I get? I'm about to go through hell, and that's all I get?"

Spike closed in the space between them and wrapped his arms around her, their bodies fitting perfectly together. He ran his tongue against her lower lip and then captured her mouth with his. The kiss was fiery and violent, and at the same time soothing and sweet. Buffy didn't know how Spike could make her feel that way, and she sure as hell didn't know how he could kiss like that. All she could do was melt into him and kiss him back with all her heart.

Their lips broke apart gently. Breathing hard, Buffy opened her eyes and looked up at him. "That was… nice."

"Good luck," he whispered softly.

She smiled at him and then turned the door to Lorraine's office, preparing herself for the worst. She really liked her boss, she did. But she just couldn't stand working at that place anymore. And oh she felt humiliated about her icky meat smell. Darn meat patties.

She took a deep breath and went inside, looking back to smile at Spike one more time.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Spike asked.

Buffy was curled comfortably in his lap, and the two of them were sitting on Buffy's living room couch. The lights were dimmed, and it was getting very dark outside. Dawn still wasn't home from the Bronze. Lately it seemed as if that was all she liked to do. Hang out at the Bronze with her friends. Buffy wasn't at the Bronze _that_ much when she was Dawn's age. Or wait… maybe she was. But she was the Slayer. She could protect herself.

"Buffy?" Spike's voice interrupted her thoughts. Ughh she had been letting her mind ramble again. Too much of that had been going on lately. Even though it was summer, she could barely relax.

"No."

"Buffy, kitten. You can talk to me. How did the quitting go?"

She let out a long sigh. "I don't know. It wasn't too horrible. It's just that I felt so bad for letting her down. She had this look of disappointment and sadness on her face. And there might have been some extreme anger. Couldn't really tell. Maybe she's passive aggressive."

"It's just a bloody fast food restaurant, sweetheart. You deserve better. Bugger, you are better. You've saved the soddin' world too many times to count."

"Seven," Buffy said abruptly.

"What?"

"Seven times. I've saved the world."

"Oh. Right."

"It seems like a lot, right?" Buffy snuggled in closer to him and leaned against his shoulder. "But to me it's normal. Another year passes, another apocalypse."

"Not this year."

She smiled up at him. "Could have something to do with that Valentine's Day, couldn't it? Who knows where we would've gone if the truth was still buried in us. For all I know Willow might've gone evil, and Xander might've not gotten married to Anya. Who knows?"

Spike gently stroked her hair. "That wouldn't happen. Much as I hate to admit it, the git loves her. He wouldn't do anything bad to her."

"Yeah. Good thing they talked over their troubles. Sorted things out."

"Yeah."

It was silent for a moment. Buffy felt so comfortable in his arms that she could fall asleep and dream deep of Spike. But something was nagging her at the back of her mind.

"We're… we're fine, right?" she asked him in such a soft voice that without his vampire senses he wouldn't have been able to hear.

Those words caused a flurry of emotions in Spike. "What's that mean?"

"These four months have been amazing… and I don't want it to ever end."

"Not really four months, pet. More like six. Remember us with the excessive and heartless shagging? Well my heart was in it."

Tears immediately sprang to her green eyes. "I'm sorry. I really am. Spike, I used you. I was so selfish and—"

"You were hurting," he interrupted her. "Don't blame you a second for it. Being here with you now, none of the past matters anymore. This is better than I ever would've imagined. And the sex back then wasn't so bad really. Except that one time you were invisible. And the one outside the Doublemeat Palace. You weren't even looking at me. But hey, don't blame you. Oh the one in the abandoned building was bloody amazing. Hardly ruthless. And that was the first time I was ever inside you."

"Okay wow. Is it 'let's go over every time we had sex' night or something?"

Spike chuckled. "What? You don't like it?"

"I don't really like going over the past of having ruthless sex with you."

"Did you not hear me? I said _not_ ruthless."

"But… you won't leave me, right?"

"Never," he said in a firm, assuring voice. "Don't even say that."

Still, Buffy felt incredibly uneasy. And Spike could sense it.

"Love, is something wrong?" he asked her, touching her on the cheek.

"It's just... in the past I've had these problems. I mean I'm so screwed up. I must not be capable of being in a relationship. First Angel, then Riley."

"Oh please. I could write a book full of Angel's lack of brains. And Captain Cardboard? Idiot would rather get screwed by vampire whores than be with you. Now see that's just stupidity. Bloody poofters they are. I'm nothing like them. And I don't even have me a soul."

"Yeah…"

"I'd never leave you for the world," he whispered in her ear. "I promise. And if I do, you can stake me."

Buffy burst into tears and laughter at the same time.

"Uh… Buffy?"

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping away the tears. "I'd never stake you, stupidhead." She sighed deeply and then closed her eyes. "Sleepy," she yawned. "Don't want to think anymore." She opened her eyes and gave him a blushing smile. "Wouldn't mind holding me, would you?"

"One condition though."

"What's that?"

"Let's get you upstairs to a nice, comfy bed."

"No complaints to that," she replied.

The two of them got up from their comfortable position and started heading up the stairs when the front door opened. Dawn came in laughing and talking to Janice. The two of them stopped short seeing Buffy glaring at them.

"Dawn it's beyond late."

"I know," Dawn started to explain. "But—"

"But what? You just decided to ignore what I said? I told you to be back before eleven."

Dawn looked at her pleadingly. "Buffy it's summer!"

"Oh right. Great excuse. It's summer! Let's all party it up like idiots and get eaten!"

"Eaten?" Janice said questioningly.

"Vamps," Dawn replied. "Remember Halloween?"

Janice wrinkled her nose. "Eww. Did you see the bumps? And the teeth?"

"Hey, no insulting now," Spike spoke up. "I like my fangs, thank you very much. Though technically I can't bite anymore."

Janice's eyes grew wide as she stared at Spike. "You're a vampire?"

"Bloody right I am."

She stared at him with amazement and then shrugged. "Cool."

"Dawn," Buffy continued. "Promise me you won't be late anymore."

"I swear." Then Dawn added in a small voice, "So I'm not grounded or anything? I can still go to the Bronze? As long as I'm not late anymore?"

"Yep," Buffy replied.

"Oh you're the best sister ever!" Dawn shrieked and jumped to give Buffy a hug.

"A big sister who's tired and sleepy," Buffy said, smiling. Okay so she'd been loose on Dawn. So what? She remembered what it was like to be a teenager. She could cut her sister some slack, as long as things didn't get too out of hand. "I'm going to bed. How are you getting home?" she asked Janice.

"My mom should be picking me up any minute," Janice said, glancing at a clock on the wall.

"Okay. Night, Dawn."

"Night, Buffy!" Dawn called after her and Spike, who were now making their way up the stairs. "Sweet dreams! Don't drool too much on Spike!"

Buffy heard giggles coming from Dawn and Janice as she and Spike got into her bedroom.

"You weren't so hard on the Nibblet this time."

"Nah. Figure I should cut her a break," Buffy replied.

"Huh."

"What? What 'huh'?"

Spike shrugged. "I don't know," he said, tucking a piece of golden hair behind her ear. "Just seems as if Dawn's been out more. Don't know what she's up to."

"I'm sure she's fine."

"Are you okay, Slayer?"

"Yeah. Just a little tired." Buffy collapsed on her bed and pulled the covers over her body. She closed her eyes. A short moment later she felt Spike join her and slip his arm around her waist. She smiled and turned around, opening her eyes just to look at him. His sweet blue eyes and those sexy cheekbones. And his soft, platinum blonde hair.

How could she have possibly not loved him before?

With that one final thought, she nestled in closer to his cool touch, and she finally let sleep take her away.

Spike gazed at her for a moment, thinking over Buffy's actions earlier. The uneasiness in her body, the uncertainty in her voice. How her eyes looked vulnerable and worried. He knew exactly what was bothering her. And it wasn't just quitting that stupid restaurant job.

Even though she had declared her love for him, there was still a part of her that hadn't been revealed. He didn't blame her for feeling uneasy. After all he was a vampire who was soulless and evil if given the chance. But she didn't know how much he loved her, and the lengths he would go for her.

He could fix that.

All he needed to do was prove it.

Spike kissed her soft hair and then settled down to sleep himself. All he wanted was Buffy. To hold her, to love her, to have her love him back. And he wasn't ever going to let go of what he had now. Buffy finally _loved_ him. That was more he could ever ask for in his entire undead life. His pride didn't matter anymore, or his reputation. He didn't care about any of that.

Still sleeping, Buffy moved in even closer to him. Spike smiled.

He had never loved anything more.

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Okay, tell me what you think. And funkydevil206 - no there will be no pregnant Buffy. I definitely promise that. No offense to anyone but I really don't like pregnant stories where Buffy gets pregnant. Lols. :) Anyway... review please!


	2. Social Services

**Chapter Two  
Social Services**

"Crap," Buffy said, hanging up the phone. "I would use a different word but, well, you know. Inappropriate."

Dawn stared at her sister with wide eyes. "What? Who was it?" Dawn secretly prayed it wasn't from the store that she'd just stolen a pair of earrings from. It seems that when you're scared of someone finding out something, you expect it to happen more.

"Social services."

"Oh," Dawn replied, relief washing over her. Since Buffy's birthday, she had tried not to steal. She really tried. But the temptation not to take anything was hard to fight. She'd gotten so used to it that it just seemed natural. Besides, Buffy barely ever paid any attention to her with her boyfriend and all. "Come on, Buffy. I'm almost sixteen. You can't expect me to not cuss. Cusswords aren't really 'inappropriate' anymore, they come naturally."

Buffy smiled and put an arm around her sister. "I know. I'm just not used to you growing up. I guess that's how Mom felt, huh?"

Dawn smiled guiltily. "So what did social services want?"

"Since I lost my job—"

"Quit your job," Dawn corrected.

"Since I've quit my job, they've decided to be checking up on us again. Can you believe it? I just quit from the Doublemeat Palace and they already know."

"Are you going to look for another job?"

Buffy sighed and sat down at the counter, playing with an empty bowl. "I guess. I don't know. I don't know what to do."

"At least you don't have to go to school. You know that starts in only a couple weeks? Damn, summer went by fast."

Buffy swung her head sharply to glare at Dawn. "Hey now. Inappropriate."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. I'll only cuss outside the house."

Buffy kept on glaring at her.

Dawn giggled. "Buff you so need to let loose. Enjoy life a little, okay? Last year was really sucky. I mean really sucky. I think we were all beyond depressed." Some of us still are, she said silently to herself. "But this year we're going to lighten up."

Buffy sighed. "I guess. I don't know." She fell silent for a moment, staring at the empty bowl. A sinking feeling fell inside of her. How was she going to face this? "Sorry," she said, turning to Dawn. "I'm just worried."

"Don't be. You're starting to act the way you did before Valentine's Day."

"Huh?" Buffy stared at her sister.

"You know. Depressed and dead."

"Oh. What does that have to do with V-day?"

Dawn snorted. "Oh come on. We all know that's the day things started brightening up for you. The whole Spike thing."

Buffy smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well we do. And we're glad that you're happy." No matter how the rest of us feel, Dawn thought to herself. "Speaking of Spike. Where the hell is he?"

"You're really on a roll today, aren't you?" Buffy asked her. "You should wash that mouth out. And Spike is sleeping. The way vampires do during the day. He's upstairs."

"Fun. You all probably had a very nice night," Dawn said, grinning devilishly.

"What? That's not— we didn't—" Buffy sputtered.

"Oh come on, like I don't know these things? Well I'm going out," Dawn announced, heading towards the front door.

Buffy immediately stood up and followed her. "Where to?"

"Janice and me are hanging."

"Oh okay. Well come home before dark."

Dawn raised her eyebrows. "Buffy in case you haven't noticed, dark in Sunnydale is like what, six o'clocK?"

"Then be home by six."

Dawn groaned softly and slammed the door behind her.

* * *

Buffy sat on the edge of her bed watching Spike sleep. He looked dead, he truly did. He was just lying there, still as a dead body. And pale too. After so many years of fighting vampires, she still couldn't get over the fact that vampires were demons with human bodies. The whole vampire mythology was so confusing. So the original soul went to heaven or hell or wherever it deserved to go, and then a demon set up shop in the body, and then when the demon died it would go to hell? She shook her head. Mucho confusing.

She sighed and stood up, feeling restless. But it was too early to go slay vampires, and Dawn wasn't home. Xander and Anya were out on vacation. Willow and Tara were probably busy. She glanced one more time at Spike. Part of her wanted to yell "WAKE UP, DAMN IT YOU BLOODY VAMPIRE!" and part of her just wanted to let him be. After all, they had a rough… a very rough night last night. A small smile played on her lips. But wow was that nice…

Unable to resist, she quietly climbed on the bed and slipped her body on top of Spike's. She heard him murmur softly in his sleep. Sitting up straight, she ran a finger around the curve of his lips. How could she have kissed him so many times before and not loved him?

He had given her love where there was hate, he gave her life when she felt dead, he gave her truth when there were lies bottling up her mind. How could she use him like that?

She bent down to kiss him softly when suddenly she felt her body pulled to his. In a quick movement, she was underneath Spike, and he was staring down at her with a small smirk.

"What was that for?" she said, pouting.

"Sneaking up on me while I was sleeping, love."

"Oh come on. Like you didn't like it."

"Don't flatter yourself, pet. Very fond of sleeping. Had a long night."

"I know," Buffy said, blushing.

"I know you know, babe."

"You know you've called me three pet names in the past minute."

"Buffy," he said softly and kissed her gently on the lips. "That better?"

She smiled up at him. "I like your pet names. Could you get off me now?"

Spike rolled to the side and Buffy got up from the bed. She ran a hand through her hair and started pacing the room.

"Okay," Spike said slowly. "You all right, sweetheart? You were really turning me on there. Now you have that really worried look on your face."

"It's just… social services called earlier today."

He raised an eyebrow. "Wanker. What is wrong with those idiots?"

"They're not idiots. They're just trying to help." Buffy paused for a moment as Spike gave her a disbelieving look. "Okay, yeah, they are idiots. But if we don't listen to them, they could take Dawn away."

"Damn. You serious? They can do that?"

She sighed and sat down next to him. "Yeah."

"I can always kill em if you want…"

Buffy rolled her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. "Much as I hate to say, that does sound nice. But no killing people. And you've got that chip."

"Buggering chip."

"I swear, if there's a way we can get that out—" Buffy started.

"No."

"No? Huh? Don't you want to you know, punch people?"

"When did you become evil? You know that if I'm chipless, I'll start feeding again. And after being off human blood so long, who knows what could happen?"

Buffy lifted her head and stared at him. "And when did you become all good?"

He gave her a small smile and brushed some hair away from her eyes. "Since I fell in love with you."

"Oh pshh. What a lie. You would still have bitten someone in a heartbeat if you could."

"Okay, yeah."

"So… when?"

"When what?"

Buffy leaned into him again. He smelled really… nice. And very undead (get the pun there?). There was the slightest scent of cigarette smoke, not too much to make her gag, but just the slightest bit. It was really nice. But if she could get him off of smoking, she definitely would. Even though he was already dead and it wouldn't do anymore harm to his body, she still felt as if not smoking made him healthier. Wow… she was really starting to care for him a lot.

"When did you start being all nice and non-vampirish?" she said, playing with the neckline of his shirt.

"Well… since Valentine's Day," he replied softly, grabbing a hold of her hand and putting it in his.

"That was a nice day," Buffy murmured.

"Well except for the rain."

"Hey, the rain was romantic. I liked it."

"Sentimental."

"Nuh uh. Besides, you're all for sentiment. At least William was. He was a bleeding poet, for god's sakes." Buffy said.

"Using my words now, are you? And don't bring up William. He was stupid. No one liked him."

"I'm sure he was very nice," Buffy said softly. "He had soul. And character. And he was romantic."

"You're bloody kidding me. William was a good-for-nothing poofter. And a fool for love."

"Well I'm sure he was sweet."

"No he wasn't," Spike said, standing up. "More like an idiot. Besides, he's long gone and buried. You'll never be able to know him anyway. So don't even think about it."

Buffy burst out laughing. "You're jealous!"

"Am not."

"Spike, I'm not in love with William. Or well, I am, because you're William. Or… no wait, I'm confused." She stood up and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm in love with you. And I'll always be in love with you."

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Buffy wondered, letting go of Spike and heading downstairs. She heard his footsteps follow after her. "Careful," she turned around and warned. "It's still afternoon. Sun's up."

"Oh… right. Bloody sun."

Buffy made sure Spike was well out of the sunlight, and then she opened the door to find a stern looking lady standing on her porch. "May I help you?" Buffy said.

"Lianne Waters, Social Services."

Buffy gawked at her. "We have an appointment?"

"Yes I must apologize for the sudden appearance. They assigned this case—" were they calling Dawn a _case_? "—and I was free this afternoon. So I concluded, the sooner the better."

"O-oh. Okay. I guess. I'm just not ready right now."

"Really?" The lady jotted something down on her clipboard while muttering, "Not ready at a moment's notice." She clucked her tongue. "Clearly a bad sign."

"I-I don't mean to be. Not ready, I mean. But it's just this was so unexpected."

"A lot of things are unexpected, Ms. Summers. You have to be prepared for them." She stepped inside the house, slightly pushing Buffy to the side.

"Come on in Miss Waters," Buffy muttered.

"It's Mrs.," she corrected. "I'm married." She stared up and down at Spike. "This the boyfriend that Mrs. Kroger mentioned?"

"Huh? Oh. Um, yeah he is."

Spike put on a huge fake smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Uh huh," Mrs. Waters. She turned her attention on Buffy.

Spike mouthed to Buffy, "Uptight bitch." Buffy giggled.

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Waters said.

"Nothing."

Mrs. Waters looked sharply at Spike and then back at Buffy. "Clearly having him around is a bad influence on Dawn."

"W-wait!" Buffy exclaimed. "You don't know that!"

The "uptight bitch" pulled out some more papers. "We've witnessed Dawn the type of crowd a young lady like herself should not be hanging out with. She's been staying out very late at the local club, shoplifting from various stores, shall I go on?"

"How do you know this?"

"We have eyes on our all cases."

Buffy winced at the words. "She's not a case," she said softly. "She's my sister."

"And you obviously aren't taking very good care of her." Mrs. Waters said, jotting down some more things on her stupid clipboard. Buffy wanted to go over there and tear her apart.

"You can't just spy on people like that. It's an invasion of privacy," Buffy said.

"We can. And we will. I think I've seen enough to make judgment that you are not suitable as a guardian. We'll talk again." With that, Lianne Waters stepped outside and walked over to her silver Mercedes-Benz.

Buffy slowly closed the door. Then she burst in tears. Spike came over and pulled her into a tight embrace. "It's okay, love. We'll take care of things."

She let her salty tears fall onto his shirt. Why did things have to become harder now? Why? She was just starting to put her life back together, and now everyone had to rip it apart for her again. At least she could grab onto Spike for support. He was really the only thing keeping her alive now.

Well no one said life was easy.

* * *

Hehe don't worry Social Services people aren't staying for long :P Review please! 


	3. Getaway

**Chapter Three  
Getaway**

"Pack some things," Buffy announced to Dawn the next morning, just after they'd both woken up.

"What?"

"Pack your things. We're going away."

"WHAT?"

"Vacation," Buffy explained. "You, me, and Spike. And the rest of the Scooby Gang."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. Dead serious. We're leaving ASAP."

Dawn stared incredulously at her sister. What on earth? This seemed extremely sudden and… weird. "Where are we going?" she asked, throwing a suitcase on the bed. She quickly packed some clothes.

"Don't know. Don't care. As long as it's out of here."

"What about those social services?" Dawn asked. "Aren't they going to come?"

"Let them. We'll deal when we get back."

"Nibblet set to go?" Spike asked, appearing out of nowhere. He kissed Buffy on the cheek.

"Almost," Dawn replied, struggling to shut her suitcase. "Got it."

"Great!" Buffy said cheerfully. "Xander should be here any moment now."

A loud horn honked outside.

"There we go," she said loudly. "Come on, let's go." The three of them ran outside, Spike shielding himself from the sun with a blanket. A large RV was parked outside.

"All aboard!" Xander announced, sitting at the driving wheel. Spike immediately ran inside and collapsed on a seat inside. "Oh you didn't explode into dust? Pity. I was really counting on the sun," Xander commented. Spike rolled his eyes.

"Xander…" Buffy said in a warning voice. She went to sit by Spike.

"Sorry, sorry. Shutting up."

"Isn't this exciting?" Willow said, fingers laced with Tara, who was sitting next to her. "A random trip that just came flying out of nowhere. And we don't even know where we're going! This is so… wild and sexy. Plus the RV? Very hot."

"You think the RV is sexy?" Dawn said, stepping inside, dropping her heavy suitcase on the floor. The whole RV jumped a little.

"Dang Dawn!" Xander exclaimed. "What do you have in there? Anvils?"

"Yes Xander. I've packed plenty of anvils for the trip."

Xander chuckled. "Funny. She's funny," he said to Anya, who was sitting next to the driver's seat.

"You okay?" Buffy asked Spike, reaching for his hand.

"Thanks for your concern, Slayer. But I'm fine. Spent many mornings flying into a certain house under a flaming blanket."

"Ohh and look at you two," Willow said, her eyes glazed with tears. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're just too cute together!"

"I think she's high," Dawn commented.

"I had coffee this morning," Willow confessed. "It makes me wacky."

Buffy stood up and walked over to Dawn. "Dawn, can we talk for a minute?"

The engine started, and the RV began moving smoothly along the road. Dawn looked at Buffy right in the eyes. "Sure. What about?"

"Over there by the beds."

"You know why I'm doing this, right?"

"Um… because the RV is sexy?"

"Because I'm worried about you."

They entered the bed area and Buffy closed the door behind them. Dawn sat down on a bed, and Buffy sat across from her. "The social security mentioned a lot of things… half of them I don't believe, but I know that you've been… rebellious lately. She said you were staying out late at the Bronze, shoplifting, stuff like that—"

"What? That's not true," Dawn replied nervously.

Buffy sighed. "Dawnie, please tell me the truth. What's been going on?"

All of a sudden Dawn looked sad and vulnerable. She crossed her legs, uncrossed them, and then stared down at the floor. Buffy reached over and tucked a piece of silky brown hair behind Dawn's ears. "It's okay," she said softly. "I'll always be here for you."

"But that's just it," Dawn said, choking on her voice. "You haven't been here for me."

Buffy stared. "You can't possibly think that."

"It's true! All you think about is yourself. You're trying to make your life better, which… well, I don't blame you. But couldn't you take a minute to think about me? And how lonely I've been? That's why I've been hanging out at the Bronze, hanging around people that smoke, breaking curfew, stealing. It makes me feel like someone I'm not. I can be free."

Buffy bit her bottom lip. "Dawn, I know the feeling."

"Oh right… because last year you screwed the brains out of Spike. Big deal."

"Hey I heard that!" Spike yelled from outside.

Buffy blushed. "What I'm trying to say is that we need to pull this family together again."

"Family? Mom's gone, Buffy! Dad doesn't even care about us. There is no family."

"Sure there is," Buffy replied, standing up. She opened the door to reveal Spike, Willow, Tara, and Xander and Anya in the front. "You're telling me these people haven't always been there for you?"

"Well Anya—"

"Beside the point."

Dawn let out a huge sigh and then gave her sister a huge hug. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay. We're making amends now. See? Vacation with shiny RV."

Dawn giggled. "And very dark," she said, motioning towards the shaded windows.

"Hey, I don't want my boyfriend turning into dust," Buffy replied.

"You don't? Well, isn't that sweet," Spike said, grinning at her. Buffy launched herself into his arms, and he caught her perfectly. She sat down next to him and then laid her head on his shoulder.

"Tired," she mumbled.

"Bed?"

She gave him a seductive smile. "No complaint there."

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He locked the door shut and then placed Buffy down on the bed.

"You think we'll be quiet enough not to bother Captain Idiot?"

"If you're referring to Xander…"

"Sorry. The guy just bugs the hell outta me."

Buffy pouted. "That's my friend you're talking about."

With a small shrug, Spike leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead. "And I'm talking about shagging in the back of the RV."

"Huh? What does that have to do with Xan—"

Spike shut her up with a passionate kiss. She sighed into his mouth and lifted her leg to pull him closer. Opening her eyes, she gazed into his blue ones and whispered, "How do you do that?"

"What? This?" he pressed into her.

She gasped. "That too."

"Or this…" he gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

"The way you make me fall in love with you over and over again," she finally said.

* * *

I know, I completely changed the storyline. I needed something spontaneous and FUN. All the Dawn stuff was getting on my nerves. No more drama and sadness. It's going to be FLUFFY. LOL. I hope everyone's still reading… sorry for the shortness of the chapter. Next one will be longer, I promise. Reviews?


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